WV, Pullman lose quarterfinals
TACOMA – It if had been boxing, the referee would have waved it off and called for an early TKO.
West Valley was playing that well.
The Eagles jetted out of the gate, looking confident and comfortable as they enjoyed an 18-point first-half lead. Elma, however, provided more than an equalizer, using grit, scrappiness and a knack for getting to the free-throw line as it overcame the early onslaught to upset West Valley 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the State 2A girls basketball tournament Thursday at the Tacoma Dome.
“I’m not sure what happened,” WV coach Lorin Carlon said. “We got off to such a great start. We were moving the ball around. We were attacking and then we stopped and decided to settle on 20-foot jump shots instead of being aggressive and driving to the basket.”
It was a tough day for the Great Northern League as its three representatives went winless. League champion Pullman suffered just its second defeat this year, losing to Prosser (47-42) in another quarterfinal, while Clarkston concluded its season with a 52-35 loss to Anacortes in the loser’s bracket.
WV (18-6) and Pullman still can add to their respective trophy cases. WV plays Othello (23-3) at 3:30 p.m. today. Pullman meets Tumwater (21-5) at 2 p.m. The winners of those games will square off for fourth place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
West Valley 62, Elma 58: Senior Melissa Mauro scored a team-high 15 points and added 11 rebounds and five steals for WV, which also received 13 points, all in the first half, from Shanique Nilles and 11 points from Hannah Love.
WV looked poised to advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 1997, the year they won the 3A title, after opening on an 18-4 run.
The lead ballooned to 29-11 on a Love basket 90 seconds into the second quarter.
Elma, the fourth-place team from the Evergreen Conference which needed to win a play-in game just to get into districts, stormed back, using a 14-0 run to cut WV’s lead to 29-25 with 2:20 left in the first half.
A 3-pointer by Katie Colard gave Elma (18-7) a 41-39 lead, its first since leading 2-0.
WV closed out the third quarter with a Lacey Nordy 3-pointer and a Missy Carey layup to tie the game at 45.
The teams traded baskets the opening 6 minutes of the fourth quarter before Elma inched ahead down the stretch by sinking free throws.
“That’s the difference right there,” Carlon said. “You can’t put a team on the free-throw line that many times and expect to win. The final minutes of the game we put them on the line a lot and they hit them.”
Prosser 47, Pullman 42: The Greyhounds got a double-double from freshman Shelby Cheslek but were still bounced into the loser’s bracket following a turnover-plagued contest.
Trailing by seven with 2 minutes to play, Pullman (22-2) rallied to cut the deficit to 42-40 on a Jessica Thomas free throw. Prosser reeled off the next seven points, pushing its advantage to 47-40 with 31 seconds left.
“They made they adjustments they needed to make in the second half,” Pullman coach Phil Morgan said, “and were able to take advantage of some things.”
The Mustangs (19-6) turned 29 Pullman turnovers into 22 points and held the edge in bench scoring (22-6).
Pullman, which led 21-16 at halftime and 33-31 after three quarters, got 11 points and 10 rebounds from Cheslek. The Greyhounds also received nine points and seven rebounds from Kirsi Voshell, and seven points and eight boards from Anna Albrecht.
Anacortes 52, Clarkston 35: The Seahawks used a 19-point third quarter to put an end to the Bantams’ season.
Clarkston’s Kellie McCann-Smith paced all scorers with 16 points, going 5 for 10 from the field. Teammate Jaimie Berhammer chipped in 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Bantams trailed 19-18 at half, but they went 3 for 22 (13.6 percent) in the second half and finished the season 12-13.